Mar 12, 2010

Today I woke up at 7.20 as we need to assemble below our classroom block at 8.10pm for a visit to the steel factory. We were running out of time as usual as Lingli also can't wake up early today so all 3 of us woke up at the same time and we were sharing the use of the toilet. We ate our breakfast which we bought yesterday on our way to the meeting point. We were running as we are really late and do not wish to pay a fine of RMB$15 per room. We went up to a room to collect our helmets which will be required later. We took a bus ride of approximately 30mins and arrived at the steel factory. A representative from the steel factory came out to greet us and brought us around the steel factory. He was very patient and explained to us about the history of the steel factory. It was built in 1974 and in production in 1976. We saw the production of making steel and it was very cool. The raw steel were placed in a machine and blocks of burning hot refined steel came out. The whole process only take 1 min. The block of refined steel are then flattened into metal sheets and coiled up for storage. It was the first time i saw the process of making steel so i was facinated by the different stages. However, i was standing very far away from the representative who was explaining to the people in front so i cannot hear him very clearly. I only relied on those in the front to pass the message down to us. After the steel factory visit, we bought fried rice from 堕落街 which taste like the kind of fried rice you can find in Singapore so it is to our liking and we like it very much. I also bought 汤包 and 豆浆 for lunch. It was too much and i cannot finish it. After lunch, we went back to our dorms to rest and prepare for our IS lessons at 2pm. We walked to our classroom 701 at 1.55pm and arrived at 2.05pm. We were considered late and were asked to pay a fine of RMB$15. Everyone were seated down and the lecturer already started her lessons so we were very embarrassed to come in late so we quickily settled down. We were given a brief introduction to the facts of china including the history, the political leaders of china such as deng xiao ping, the communism in china, labor, welfare, transportation and many more. Lessons ended early today at around 4pm and the china lecturer asked us about our interest in which sector so that she can prepare our next lessons or whether we have any questions to ask her. Soonling, Janice, Weiqin and I decided to go to 销品茂 while the others decided to stay in campus to rest. Weiqin went there to alter her jeans which she bought the other day and we accompanied her there. We also went to Walmart to purchase some daily necessities such as hot drinks and some snacks which turn out to be RMB$60.20. After that we took a cab back to campus but during the ride, the driver was very rude to us and he does not know the way to go to our destination. He was pissed off when neither of us know how to lead him there. He told us to get off his taxi at a place we are unfamiliar of and we were stunned at his actions. We called the china students for help and they tried to help us. One even offered to walk over to pick us up. While waiting a private cab came along and asked us where we want to go and we told him our destination. He was very friendly and even point to us the different roads. We finally return to our campus safely and blogged quickly as we need to assemble at 8.10am tomorrow.

Personal Reflection:

I learnt about the simple facts of china today and the differences in political view of singapore and china. I also learnt of some differences of he history and development of china and singaporewhen i did some compare and contrast myself such as singapore is a diplomatic country while china is a communism country. We are also introduced to the leaders of china and the different provinces of china. For our next lessons, we shall learn how to do business in china. I am very shock at the service of the cab today. I think it is very irresponsible of the cabby to just dump us at a place and still expect us to pay him. I feel that this puts tourists like us off and they will lose potential revenue from this economic sector. However, I feel that we should not let this affect our thinking of the entire cabby population in china as the one we met may be just one of the black sheeps.